Blast-furnace discharge-arrester.



E. E. SLICK & E. W. CLARKE.-

BLAST FURNACE DISCHARGE ARHESTER.

APPLICATION FILED IuIIE I1. 1915.

1,191,541. l 4 Patented July 18, 1916.

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'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHI 511g III :rens :1.7.4 rnumnno l/Asumwum n c iran sra-'res rarer Y EDWIN E. SLICK AND EDGAR W. CLARKE, OF WESTMONT BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

BLAST-FURNACE DISCHARGE-ARRESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 1916.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known'that we, EDWIN E. SLICK and EDGAR W. CLARKE, both citizens of the United States, and both residing in the borough of Westmont, county of Cambria, and State of Pennsylvania, (whose postolfice addresses are Johnstown, Pennsylvania,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blast-Furnace Discharge-Arresters; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains, to make and use the same.

Due to slips of the charge and numerous other causes, explosions and excessive pressures very often occur in the tops of blast furnaces which ycause large quantities of ore, coke and limestone, which forms the charge of the furnace to be forcibly diss charged with and by the gases into the surrounding atmosphere; thereby endangering human lives and causing great financial losses.v

I'n our invention, we mount on a blast furnace, or on each or all the bleeder or blowoff pipes thereof, an automatic relief valve and a large cage surrounding said valve adapted to .receive and recharge the solid material thrown from the furnace. v

It is the object of our invention-to provide a discharge arrester that is simple, and economically constructed and one that will efficiently perform its purpose, and tothisend we provide ample distance or clearance around the valve so that large pieces of solid material will not blockade the apparatus and -will consequently `be returned to the furnace by gravity before lthe valve closes, and this is a novel and particularV feature of c our invention.

The cross sectional area of our cage is made very large as compared with the cross sectional area of the opening in the valve seat, in order to reduce the velocity of the gases within the cage and thereby allow solid materials to drop ytherein Aby .gravity into the lower part of the cage, vwhich is preferably formed in the shape of a-hopper, adapted to discharge the -solid materials through the valve seat opening into the furnace. The cage is also made with themaximum area of openings, which is very many times larger than that of the opening inthe valve seat, and this is accomplished-by making the cage Vboth of large diameter `and ofconsiderable tion.

`tance apart.

height with a largenumber of openings in the side `portions thereof, which openings are adapted to permit the gases to escape from the cage, but to hold the solid particles therein for the purpose of returning them to the furnace as above described.

Referring now to the sheet of drawings forming part of this specification, and in which like characters of reference indicate like parts :-Figure 1 is a side elevation of a discharge arrester embodying our invention, showing it attached to the top of the bleeder pipe of a blast furnace; Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse sectional elevation of the discharge arrester on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3 is a topV plan view of the perforated top plate of the arrester; Fig. t is a vertical sectional elevation on a larger scale, illustrating the manner of spacing the rings of the arrester, and the arrangement of the screen bars thereof. Y

The valve seat plate 2 and the casing 1, which form the lower part of our discharge arrester are placed upon the top -of the bleeder pipe l and are shown as attached thereto by means of the angles 3 and the rivets 5, said casting t being provided with a flange G provided with rivet holes 7 to receivethe rivets 5. Holes 9 are formed in the top flange 8 of casting 1 through which the rods l0 are inserted. At either end, these rods 10 are provided with threads 11 and nuts 12. Rings 15 are adapted to receive the rods 10 through the holes 16 therein and to retain the said rods in the desired posi- Tubular spacing membersla on the rods 10 hold the rings 15 atthe'proper dis- A screenplate 17 forms the top ofthe so formed vertical screen and is adaptedto receive the threaded ends 11 of the rods 10 through-the holes 18,. The tubu- .such tension in the rods 10 as will hold the entire screen structure in a rigid position.

The rods `10 on which the tubular spacing members 14;,are not used are'provided with intermediate ynuts 13 that are adapted to llock vthe rods 10y in proper position. The

screen plate 17 is provided with a plurality =of screen holes20 and a larger central opening 19 through which the chain 23 may run. Thevalve 21 is formed with a bifurcated -top ,22:adapted to 'receive and hold the chain 23r Y beam 29, which as shown is intermediate o-f and supported by the two bleeder pipes.A

The lever 27 communicates with the ground floor or lower level around the furnace, by means of an operating rod 30. Thus, when desired, the valve 21 may be raised from its seat to which it will return by the force of gravity, the inclined edges of casting or funnel l acting as guides.

The operation of our apparatus is as follows: The apparatus having been mounted upon a blast furnace or the top end of a bleeder pipe or blow-oill pipe thereof, the valve 2l will under ordinary conditions remain on its seat and close the communication between the interior of the furnace and the atmosphere, but when the interior pressure becomes excessive or when an explosion takes place the valve is forced upwardly from its seat; thereby relieving the excessive pressure. Any solid material that may be discharged when the valve is thus opened impinges upon the arrester screen and after the explosive force of gases is dissipated the solid materials drop back quickly into the furnace before the valve is seated, but if any remain they are returned to the furnace by lifting the valve. The dangers, from discharged materials are not only eliminated thereby, but an enormous amount of ore and' other materials which form the charge are returned to the furnace. The cone 4L and the cage surmounting the same are of large size and diameters as compared with the bleeder pipes and valve 21, so that a very large amount of room is provided for theV temporary reception of solid materials so that they will not paclr therein nor block the entire passage.

The cage of our construction is made of very large diameter as compared with the diameter of the opening in the valve seat, and in the drawings herewith the horizontal cross sectional area of the cage is substantially twelve times as large as the area of the opening in the valve plate. In addition to this the cage is very high, as illustrated, and the sides are formed of rods spaced apart and the area of the spaces between the rods is substantially twenty times the area of the opening in the valve seat, which more than compensates for the frictional losses of the gases in passing between the rods. These dimensions are given as illustrative and not as limiting, as the cage may, of course, be made somewhat larger or somewhat smaller if desired, and still be within the scope of our invention. In other words, the cage is very large as compared with the opening in the valve seat in order to reduce the velocity of the gases therein and to prevent the lodgment and blockading of particles of the charge within the cage, as by reason of its size, the particles can readily adjust themselves in such a way that they will readily drop back into the furnace. Our cage is also provided with means at the lower portion thereof for facilitatingthe return of the materials to the furnace.

lf, after an explosion the valve does not return to its seat, by reason of Solid 0bstruction, it may be made to do so by raising it by means of the operating rod, lever and chain and then allowing it to slowly take its seat after the obstructions drop into the furnace. This is possible by reason of our construction as described herein.

As shown in Fig. l, we may use one or more discharge arresters on a blast furnace and although we have Shown and described our improvements in considerable detail, we do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details shown and described but may use such substitutes, modifications or equivalents thereof as are embraced within the scope of, our invention or as pointed out in the claims.

Having thus described our invention,

what we claim and desire to secure by Let l .rest upon the valve seat and normally close the opening therein, a hopper member surrounding the valve and valve seat, a cage mounted on the hopper inclosing the opening in the valve'plate.

3. The combination with a blast furnace bleeder pipe of a valve plate mounted thereon, an yopening and a valve seat therein, a relief valve adapted to close said opening, a cage inclosing the said valve and said opening, and means provided at the lower portion of said cage adapted to return the solid materials to the bleeder pipe.

4L. The combination with a blast furnace bleeder pipe of a valve plate mounted thereon, an opening and a valve seat therein, a relief valve adapted to close said opening, a hopper member mounted upon the valve plate, a cage mounted upon the upper edges of said hopper member and inclosing the said opening.

5. The combination with a blast furnace bleeder pipe of a valve plate mounted thereon; an opening and a valve seat therein; a relief valve adapted to close said opening; a hopper member mounted upon the valve plate; a cage of large diameter, as compared with the diameter of the sai-d opening, inclosing the space communicating with the said opening.

6. The combination with a blast furnace bleeder pipe of a valve plate mounted thereon; an opening and a valve seat therein; a relief valve adapted to close said opening; a hopper member mounted upon the valve plate; a large cage inclosing the space communicating with the said opening; the inner surfaces of said hopper member sloping toward and to the edges of said opening, thereby adapting material discharged from the bleeder pipe into the cage to be guided back into the bleeder pipe and adapted to guide the valve to its seat.

7. A discharge arrester comprising an opening provided with a valve seat, a relief valve adapted to normally rest upon the said seat, a large cage inclosing said valve and valve seat, provided with means for directing materials into said opening and means for raising and lowering the said relief valve.

8. A discharge arrester comprising an opening provided with a valve seat, a relief valve adapted to normally rest upon the said valve seat, a large cage inclosing said valve and valve seat, provided with means for direoting materials into said opening and means for raising and lowering the said valve, thereby adapting it to be properly seated.

9. A discharge arrester comprising an opening provided with a valve seat, a relief valve adapted to normally rest upon the said seat, a large cage inclosing said valve and valve seat, provided with means for directing materials into said opening and a iiexible support secured to the valve and adapted to raise and lower the same.

In testimony whereof we hereto aiiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

EDWIN E. SLICK. EDGAR W. CLARKE.

Witnesses:

OLIVER B. I-IIoKoX, ELMER SEAVY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

